Jungle
War Story

War Story

Movie
Studio(s): 
Director(s): 
Genre: 
On DVD: 
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Grade:
D
Running Time: 
99 Minutes
War Story is a film about a photographer (Catherine Keener) whose seen the worst sides of humanity, even lived through some herself, and is currently hiding out in Sicily trying to cope with her demons at a familiar hotel where she’s cut herself off. Though isolating herself and soul searching has provided little refuge she does find a cause in a pregnant Tunisian Migrant who she has committed to helping.    
 
Sometimes you come across films that try too hard to be deep and thought provoking, stripping any kind of commercial appeal away and giving you the raw hard reality. War Story doesn’t have frills or cheap thrills, just a lot of awkward silent pauses, disjointed encounters, and a plot that meets you halfway giving you the tools to try to fill in the gaps on your own. I think in that sense you need to connect with the main character, but it’s an almost impossible task since her background story is so guarded. 
 
Keener, as usual, does a pretty intense job of creating a character that just is. Her fights with the cleaning lady add up to something you can use. Her interactions with an Afghan trader or two thugs looking to stop her from photographing seemingly nothing make for decent  inside information. Unfortunately the story is molasses slow and hardly ever gives you time to invest yourself into the plight of the main character or even her cause. 
 
At it’s core I think, if you’re a war time photographer or the victim of some ungodly scenario that’s scarred you, there might be something worth digging for. Other then that, if you’re none of those things, War Story is going to be just a well acted but very boring piece of cinema. 
AJ Garcia
Review by AJ Garcia
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